(Hee Jee Moon) Ancestor's survival story during Japanese invasion of Korea


















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Description of source


The top left picture is the Gwanggudang. This place is like a living room where all the family members meet! During the Japanese invasion, most of the conversations and interactions occur here. Also, this was the place where ideas of resisting against Japanese came out. The top right picture is a Insu book storage. It has the most privately owned books in this storage. This place was for teaching children to teach Korean instead of Japanese. Bottom left picture is called a Subong Jeongsa. This building is not connected to the Japanese invasion. However, it was one of the main buildings where our Moon family lived. Bottom Right picture would be our family's house in all.

Source type (primary or secondary)


Primary Source: http://www.inheung.com/main/main.asp <-- this is the main site about this place and information about Japanese invasion
Primary Source: these pictures are actually taken at Daegu (which is the real place) Except the drawings on the bottom right is secondary source.
Secondary Source: My grandfather was too young when Japanese invaded. Nonetheless, he knows the story about his ancestor. I had a interview with my grandfather.

Short explanation of the source’s significance to the event


This place might be my ancestor's normal house, but it contains the history of Japanese invasion and how my ancestors were resisting in this area. Our Family didn’t like the way that Japanese teach, so our family decided to make their own studying room to keep Korean education culture. Our family knew that sending their children to a Japanese school will make them become Japanese. Our ancestor taught their children in their house. The biggest personal library (Insu book storage) was built and made the children to study here. Gwanggudang was built at 1910, the year of fallen nation, to support education for descendants. Gwanggudang was evaluated highly for its contribution to promote academics. Under the circumstance of Japanese invasion, our family was trying their best to protect Hangul.

Interview with my Grandfather


Q1. During the Japanese invasion, what was my ancestor's role in resisting against Japan?

A1. Our social status was pretty high that time. We actually supported the Korean resistant army with money. Weapons, armors, and shelters all require lots of money.

Q2. Why did my ancestor have the largest book storage?

A2. The book storage was mostly used to educate kids away from Japan. Our ancestor was strict and wished to keep the rehabilitation of Korean Hangul.

Q3. What was our family's main goal during the Japanese Invasion?

A3. Our main goal was to maintaining Korean culture. Japanese was changing the names and teach Koreans in Japanese studying style. Nonetheless, our family tried their best to keep the Korean culture in their area.

Written recount of the event with direct reference to all of the sources


Our ancestor survived the Japanese invasion, through constructing buildings and having discussion between the whole Moon's Family. Since our family was huge, it was important for us to have enough debates. Gwanggudang was used for the place where we debate, and also used for place to educate Moon's children. We also contributed to the resistant Korean army by paying money and buying guns, armors, and more. Insu Book storage is like a symbol of how we love Hangul and the Korean culture. Our family was keeping all the Korean books so we could continue our country's culture instead of getting stolen by the Japanese. After Korea finally gain their independence, the Insu book storage, that was meant to be built for keeping the Korean culture, is now one of the largest book storage that exists in Korea. Moon's family had strong faith that Korea will never die!!!





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As a detective:


There were several pictures in the internet about my family, so it was easier for me to search and use it as a source. One of the tough ones was having a interview with my grandfather. My grandfather didn't have enough memories about how our ancestor survived. Nonetheless, interview successfully have ended.

As a Interpreter:


All the information that was in the site was written in Korean. Also, my grandfather could speak only Korean. So it was a tough work to interpret all the Hangul into English. Since my primary source were having old Korean words and hard to translate into English, I actually revised some sentenced after I translated, so it would be easier to understand.

As a Judge:


The only conclusion I got from this project was that my family has a strong faith on each other. They never doubt others and there were no family members who were skeptical. Discussions and Debates went smoothly and our family's strong bond would probably be one of the significant element in our survival.

As a Philosopher:


I learned many things about my family. There were many difference between the Moon's family now and the Moon's family back then. There was one contradiction about my ancestor and me. My ancestor was never skeptical about their families' ideas or opinions. I am always doubting every single thing that my family does. Since I figured out our family had strong bond, this would probably affect my personality from skeptical to always having faith.




The Picture of me in my ancestor's house

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